Members of Bajrakot Forest Protection Committee,
Ranpur, Orissa,
beginning a night watch of the forest.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of BSc. (Hons.)

Human Environmental Science, King's College,
London

April 16
1999

Abstract

Forest rejuvenation is occurring in the east Indian states of
West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar, as a consequence of community
protection and the regulation of access. In a significant
departure in the relationship between forests, people and the
state, a new meeting point between the Forest Department, and
rural communities is facilitating a co-operative management of
forest land, called joint forest management. In Orissa, however,
community forest management, without support from the state, and
in what can be interpreted as a new, subtle form of environmental
activism, is likewise showing forest regeneration, notably in
areas of derelict Reserved forests.

Work undertaken in Orissa, east India, in January 1999, is
reported here. Regeneration is providing communities with a
critical increase in biomass supply, in contrast to the resource
scarcities of recent years that often motivate protection.
Increased biomass availability is also leading to improved income
generating opportunities. Some forests notably of commercial
species such as teak, Tectona grandis appear to be
protected for quasi-commercial reasons. Other areas of forest not
under community protection are degraded, though usefully employed
as grazing grounds, as part of the agricultural economy.

Forest under community forest management may have an uncertain
future, due to several factors such as institutional instability,
lack of legitimacy according to the state, particularly on land
designated as Reserved, which legally belongs to the Forest
Department, and a management regime that is too informal. Joint
forest management, where a partnership for forest management is
undertaken by the forest Department and rural communities, may be
more robust and sustainable.

With and without the support of the state, communities are
reclaiming areas of forest, and assuming roles of stewardship.

I would like to thank the following for their help, without
whom this study would not have been possible; Tapan Padhi, Nirmal
Jyotishi and Dr Vikasha Kumar Patra of RCDC (Regional Centre for
Development Co-operation), Bhubaneswar, Orissa, plus kind
assistance in the field by Dilip Kumar Mohanty and Gorachand
Mohanty of Budhikhamari Forest Protection Committee.

Thank you also to Vasundhara, Bhubaneswar, notably to Dalku
Nayak and Dr Pravat Sutar in the field at Ranpur, along with
Laxmiehar Jena and Madhav Jena, and the many more members of
Ranpur FPC who gave their time.

A special thanks to Dr David Cartwright, King's College,
London, for his kind support and for giving me a free rein, and
Purnendu Roy for sustaining me.